Dentists or other medical technicians often remove the dental pulp from a patient's tooth when the pulp is infected or decayed to preserve the health of the patient's tooth and/or jaw. After removing the tooth's pulp, the dentist or other medical technician typically obturates the tooth, i.e., fills and seals the hollow chamber in the tooth created by the removal of the pulp to prevent food and germs from causing an infection in the tooth and/or jaw. The dentist or other medical technician typically obturates the tooth by injecting gutta percha—a plastic material that becomes soft and malleable when heated but becomes hard without being brittle when cooled—or other suitable material into the tooth's hollow chamber. Once the hollow chamber is filled, the dentist or other medical technician seals the chamber to complete the procedure.
The dentist or other medical technician typically uses an endodontic obturator or endodontic syringe to inject gutta percha or other suitable material into a tooth. FIG. 1 shows a conventional endodontic obturator 10 that a dentist or other medical technician typically uses. The obturator 10 includes a body 12 having a chamber 14 that a dentist or other medical technician places gutta percha or other suitable material in. The obturator 10 also includes a hollow cannula 16, a heater 18 to heat the gutta percha placed in the chamber 14 and thus soften the gutta percha, and a rod 20 to force the gutta percha through the cannula 16. To inject gutta percha into a tooth with the obturator 10, the dentist or other medical technician first places gutta percha into the chamber 14. Then, the dentist or other medical technician heats the gutta percha with the heater 18. Once the gutta percha is soft enough to flow through the cannula 16, the dentist or other medical technician places the cannula 18 at or inside the hollow chamber in the tooth and forces the rod 20 against the gutta percha.
Unfortunately there are some problems with using the endodontic obturator 10. If the dentist or other medical technician is not careful when using the obturator 10, he/she could burn himself/herself and/or the patient. The temperature the gutta perch must reach before it can flow through the cannula 16 is typically 65° C. Thus, the heater has to generate a substantial amount of heat that may heat other regions of the body 12, such as a region that lies in close proximity to the patient's lips or tongue or a region where the dentist or other medical technician holds the obturator 10. Consequently, the dentist or other medical technician could burn the patient if he/she inadvertently contacts the patient's mouth, or drops the obturator 10 due to the heat.
In addition, the chamber 14 and cannula 16 has to be cleaned after each procedure. To clean the obturator 10, the obturator 10 must be disassembled, and the chamber 14 and cannula 16 soaked in chloroform to dissolve the remaining gutta percha. The disassembly of the obturator 10 is time consuming, and thus an inefficient use of the dentist's or other medical technician's time. Because chloroform is very dangerous to a person's health, safety procedures must be strictly observed when handling and working with chloroform. Following the safety procedures can be time consuming, and thus an inefficient use of the dentist's or other medical technician's time. Furthermore, following the safety procedures does not ensure that an accident will not occur while handling and/or working with the chloroform.
Thus, there is a need for an endodontic obturator that may be used safely and subsequently cleaned quickly and safely.